Behind the Scenes
TUGS is a short lived but remarkable feat in live action animation. #It took over a year to make the 13 episodes. #The Star Fleet are based off the tugs of San Francisco. #The Z Stacks are based off the Moran Fleet of New York City. #The Walt Disney cartoon, Little Toot, served as an inspiration for the series. #The boats used wheeled trolley chasis clamped to the hulls for added weight and realsim. The chasis were planned to be remote controlled, but the added weight from the mechanisms in the tugs' wheel houses proved to be too heavy. #Transparent string pulled the characters along by hand through the water. #Ten Cents was 20 inches long, and his hull was the basis for Zip and Zug. #Hercules was 36 inches long. #Izzy Gomez was 4 feet long #Only one ocean liner model was made, frequently modified with different liveries and stacks depending on which shipping line she was portraying. It was 12 feet long. #The entire series was filmed on the Clearwater Periscope Lens System with a variable speed 35mm Mitchel motion picture camera, running at 36fps, 48fps, or 98fps depending on the scene. #The studio crew members wore fishing waders whilst being in an aquatic set. #The superstructures were made of perspex and plastic, and the funnels were made of brass so they didn't melt when smoke was pumped through them. #Most of the eye movements were controlled by David Mitton and Chris Tulloch. #The Second Series was planned to introduce more tugboats and have more episodes take place up river. #The tank was designed to function like a swimming pool with a filter to keep the water clean, but with vegetable dye to give it more of a harbour like appearance. #The tank measured out 45ft by 25ft with a depth of 14 inches. #David Mitton reportedly kept fish in the tank. #Each tug had between a dozen and two dozen interchangeable faces. #The models were built at a scale of one third of an inch to the foot, however some of the larger boats had to be 'adjusted' in scale. #Each tug cost between £6,000-£8,000 (1989) #It took two men to controll the trolleys, smoke, steam, eyes, etc. for each tug. #The series was filmed in a renovated boiler house at Shepperton Studios. #Robert Cardona went to the USA in March 1990 to set up an American deal. Plans were made to re dub the series with New Jersey, Mid West, and Bronx accents. To date, this dub has never surfaced on the internet. #Several face masks were auctioned off on eBay in mid 2012. #Several models of the tugboat characters were confirmed to still exist in December 2012. As of January 2013, 18 of the models are being preserved by the Star Tugs Trust. Gallery Image:Periscope.jpg|The Clearwater Periscope Lens System Image:Behind3.jpg|The Studio of TUGS Image:tugsmagazine.jpg|Model Boats Magazine "How they made the 'Tugs' videos" File:BigMac,FireTug,JohnnyCuba,OldRustyandBillyShoepack'sfaces.jpg|Face Masks for Big Mac, The Fire Tug, Johnny Cuba, Old Rusty, and Billy Shoepack File:O.J.'sfacesandBuoys.jpg|Face Masks for OJ, as well as several marker buoys File:Grampus'sfacemasks.jpg|Face Masks for Grampus IzzyGomez'sfaces.jpg|Face Masks for Zebedee and Izzy Gomez SeaRogue,UncleandTopHatt'sfaces.jpg|Face Masks for Sea Rogue and Top Hat Zebedee'sfaces.jpg|Face Masks for Zebedee TEN CENTS.jpg|Ten Cents' model ZIP.jpg|Zip's model SEA ROGUE.JPG|Sea Rouge's model IMG 7559.jpg|Billy Shoepack's model IMG 7493.JPG|Hercules' model IMG 7454.jpg|Hercules' model up close IMG 7466.jpg|Burke's model IMG 7485.jpg|Blair's model IMG 7458.jpg|Big Mac's model IMG 7519.jpg|Second shot of Big Mac's model IMG 7461.jpg|Boomer's model IMG 7644.jpg|Remote controls Sunshinemodel.jpg|Sunshine's Model IMG_7627.jpg|Zak's model ZORRAN.jpg|Zorran's Model ZEBEDEE.jpg|Zebedee's model OJ.jpg|OJ's modified model WORRIER.jpg|Warrior's model IMG_7611.jpg|Lillie's face mask IMG_7594.JPG|The Fire Tug IMG_7459.jpg|A close up of Big Mac's face IMG_7628.jpg|A close up of Zak's face IMG_7641.jpg|A close up of Zebedee's face IMG_7473.jpg|Billy Shoepack's model IMG_7606.jpg|Lillie's storage box IMG_7478.jpg|Sunshine and his storage box ZUG.jpg|Zug's model IMG_7543.jpg|Burke's model Warrior'smodel.png.png|Warrior's promotional model BigMac'smodel.PNG|Big Mac's promotional model Zebedee'sModel.png|Zebedee's promotional model Zipmodel.PNG|Zip's promotional model Category:Browse